During software upgrades, it is common to encounter dependencies or showstopper that will cause havoc to your planned activities. Thus, one of the items that I always look in a plan is the catch-up plan. After all, you need to anticipate and mitigate risk like delayed dependencies. A well crafted catch-up plan can reduce the impact from delays or even meet the intended delivery date.
Ways to Catch-up
Many of standard catch-up plan requires flexibility and autonomy to your intended project plan. The first step is to obtain the authority to amend and modify the planned activities. You can also reallocate your idling resources to do tasks that have little dependencies. Another approach is to make use of the downtime to look into automating tasks. This helps to reduce and catch-up on the delivery dates. Do note that adding resources could run counterproductive due to tight timeline.
Catch-up Tips
There are no catch-up plans that will not work. These are some tips that you can consider for your catch-up plans.
- Build a collaborative catch-up plan to meet tight delivery date.
- Automate mundane and routine tasks.
- Allocate your best resources for catch-up plan.
- Do not turn your catch-up plan into the main plan.
- Commit to the success of catch-up plan for a realistic goal!
The catch-up must be triggered if the anticipated delays are affecting your project schedule. You need to commit to the success of your catch-up plan. There is no point to initiate a catch-up plan if it is impossible to meet the timeline. Finally, a well executed catch-up plan can make or break your project.
Danny Kwok 